Legislation passed by the coalition government last year created 12 high protection areas (HPAs) across the Hauraki Gulf, banning most commercial and recreational fishing within them, along with five sea floor protection areas. A late-stage amendment to that legislation drew sharp criticism from the opposition at the time, as it granted commercial ring-net fishing operators exclusive access to two of the HPAs.
In a statement released on Saturday, Potaka acknowledged the amendment had "caused widespread concern from the hundreds of thousands of users of Auckland's key recreational waterway".
Maungakiekie-based Labour MP Priyanca Radhakrishnan had stated at the law's introduction that Labour would reverse the carve-out if elected.
"Despite the environment select committee unanimously recommending to this house that the bill be passed with no substantive change, at the 11th hour, because of some active lobbying of the minister of oceans and fisheries, we saw this government cave to that pressure and they have chosen to water down the protections in the original bill. Labour, in government, will reverse the change that allows ring-net fishing in those HPAs."
National has now signalled it would move in the same direction. Potaka said the party would look to reinstate a total ban on fishing within the HPAs should it be re-elected. "A further decision, to allow bottom trawling in some designated trawl corridors in the Gulf has also been controversial, so we will review that also," he said.
Potaka described his broader aim as achieving a consistent approach to protecting the Gulf, one that balanced the needs of recreational users alongside those of commercial operators. "At the heart must be the health of the Hauraki Gulf. It is Auckland's playground and the centrepiece of some of New Zealand's most iconic aquatic events," he said.
